Time for a change
by Zoey Matthews
Summary: Melinda moves to Mystic Falls to meet her father. Rated T right now but may change later.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries. If I did things would definitely be different.**

My mom, Charlotte Warren, keeps trying to be nice to me so I'll stay. But I'm tired of putting up with the crap that she keeps putting me through. I can only stand lending her money for 'food' for so long.

Mom used to be pretty. Course, she also used to have a job too. She got tired of waiting for the right guy to come along. That's when everything went downhill. Her blonde hair was once the envy of the neighborhood, but now, it just looks dirty most of the time. That's where mom and I differ. She's blonde and I'm a dark brunette. Also there is the fact that my eyes are a steel gray color and her eyes are green. Some people don't even know that we're mother and daughter when they see us. So, I must get a lot of my features from my dad, who I've never met.

I know she's not actually buying food with the money, since after I give her the money, which is from her weekly paychecks, she leaves for hours on end and then comes home looking stoned. That's when I have to go grocery shopping.

And don't even get me started on some of the guys she brings home sometimes. Some of them stay the night while others leave right after they get done. Either way, it's kind of gross. I hate how almost every single one of them calls me 'kid' at one time or another during the night. And at 16, you hate being called kid.

I started counting the days till the hearing. I had filed for emancipation and hoped the judge would grant me this removal from my mother's life.

On the day of the hearing, I got up before mom did and got a shower. I didn't figure she'd be up any time soon since she came in late last night.

The courtroom was semi crowded. My best friend, Janey Young, and her boyfriend, Carter Benson, were sitting on the bench right behind me. Janey and I have been friends since kindergarten. Janey and I have known Carter since 5th grade. Janey and Carter just started dating about a year ago.

Janey doesn't really have a distinct label that people use. She has her own style that mixes several groups together. Her dark, almost black, shoulder-length hair is usually straight but sometimes she puts it up in a messy bun to get it under control.

On occasion, when I wanted to escape mom, I've borrowed some of her clothes. I give them back to her after I've washed of course. It's amazing that we're the same size.

Carter is a bit of a jock. His short messy blonde hair fits pretty well under his football helmet. Sometimes I wonder why he sits with us at lunch instead of with his sports buddies. But I guess it doesn't really matter.

"In the case of emancipation for Miss Melinda Warren. I've read your case, and I grant you emancipation."

I contained myself until the three of us made it to the car then I was jumping for joy while holding the papers above my head in my hand.

I already had the perfect place in mind to move into and immediately went down to put a down payment on the place.

Getting a job was the next thing on my mind. I get a little bit of help from the state until I turn 18 to help with rent and utilities, but it's not enough to cover everything. Course, working enough to cover extra expenses and going to school full time was going to be fun. But I was going to do it. I really didn't want to move back into that dump that my mother calls a home.

I got hired at the grocery store just down from my apartment. Evidently, they just had someone retire and needed a new cashier pretty much immediately.

Janey wanted to color my hair, but I had to turn her down since I knew that anything other than natural colors at work would probably get me fired. She was a little depressed, but we hung out anyways.

School is going good so far. People think its cool that I'm living on my own. I make the point of telling them that it's not as cool as it looks, which gets them thinking and then they leave me alone.

I've been living by myself for almost a year now. I'm doing better now. Mom hasn't called me in months. She kept trying to get me to move back in with her and I kept telling her no.

I hate it when people knock on my door, early in the morning on a Saturday. They better have a really good reason for it, because I might have to go a little crazy on them. And this is the only day I have off for a while, so I wanted to spend it sleeping and finishing my homework for Monday.

So anyways, I answer the door and there's a man in a nice looking suit standing there with a briefcase. He looked like he was about ready to knock again.

"Can I help you, sir?" I said as I put my hand on the door and ran my other hand through my hair.

"I'm looking for a Miss Melinda Warren. Does she live here?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries. **_

"Depends on who's asking."

"I'm here on behalf of her father, Richard Lockwood."

"I'm Melinda." I stood up a little straighter.

"May I come in, Miss Warren?"

"Yeah, come on in. I didn't catch your name." I stepped away from the door to let him in.

"Roger Buckland."

"Ok sorry about the mess, I was working late last night and didn't realize I was having company this early in the morning."

"Well, if you'll let me explain why I'm here, then I'll let you go back to what you were doing."

"Ok, I'm all ears."

"Your father knows what's going on here and wants you to move to Mystic Falls. You'll have your own place just like you have here, and you'll still have to work for entertainment money, but everything else will be paid for."

"Why hasn't he come to get me before now? I've been living in a hellhole for about the past 10 years. Why now?"

"Your father didn't even know you existed until he got the emancipation papers in the mail. Any other information you will have to get from him when you move to Mystic Falls."

"What if I don't want to move to Mystic Falls?"

"Your father doesn't want to use force if he doesn't have to."

"Fine, I'll move, but this doesn't mean I'll talk to him at all."

So I packed up all my stuff, said goodbye to my friends, and drove from my home in East L.A. to Mystic Falls, Virginia. It was a long drive—even had to make a few stops along the way.

I pulled up in front of apartment building that I'd be living in for a while. It wasn't too bad a looking place. I carried the first box up two flights of stairs before coming to my new door.

I got the key in the mail a few days ago along with a note about everything else I'll need. So I just had to get to the place.

I opened the door. The place looked pretty good. It was completely furnished. There were two bedrooms and one bathroom. Luckily, I hadn't really brought any furniture with me.

It took several trips to get everything into the apartment. Most of the boxes weren't very heavy but trying to get them up two flights of stairs while trying to avoid hitting people on the stairs with said boxes was difficult.

That night I unpacked only the stuff that I needed to get ready for bed. It was a long drive and I was exhausted. I didn't really even want to put the sheets on the bed but it would save me time later on.

The bed was so much nicer than the one in my old apartment. Its also a king size instead of the full that the last tenants left at the place.

So I got under the sheets and snuggled up to my pillow and was asleep in no time. It wasn't even 11pm when I fell asleep.

I felt so refreshed when I woke up. It was almost 9am. I'd slept for a good 10 hours and was feeling good.

I got my shower and got dressed before going to the grocery store. I didn't have any cereal or milk and that's what I wanted this morning.

I picked up a few other perishables like bread and meat. I had a couple of bags to take to my room but they weren't heavy so I could handle it.

After breakfast, I started decorating with the few pictures I had. A lot of them went up on the wall by the tv. All of my books, dvds and cds went on the shelf I put beside the coffee table on the left end of the couch.

This big place made me realize that I don't have a whole lot of stuff. The one shelf and the pictures in the living room and the small amount of stuff in my dresser in the bedroom was all I really had with me.

For lunch, I had decided to visit the restaurant that I saw when I went grocery shopping this morning. It looked like a nice place and I might as well get acquainted with the town. I was stuck here till I graduated next year.

I headed to the school next. School had just ended when I got there. When Dad called me a few days ago, he told me that he had already pulled a few strings and had gotten me enrolled at Mystic Falls High School. He even already had my transcripts transferred to the new school.

"Ok Miss Warren, everything seems to be in line. Here is your schedule and a paper that each of your teachers need to sign tomorrow and have it back here at the end of the day."

"Thank you." With that I headed back to the apartment.

I couldn't believe I had left my cell phone at the apartment. By the time I got back to it I had 2 missed calls and a couple of texts.

The calls were from my dad and my mom. I decided I wasn't going to call mom back because she probably only wanted money.

The texts were from Janey. She wanted to know if I had made it safely and how I was doing.

'_I'm doing good, you'll have to come visit sometime.'_ I typed into my phone and texted her back. Decided I better call Dad before he comes looking for me.

"Hey Dad, sorry that I didn't answer when you called earlier. I left my phone sitting on the kitchen counter when I left to go to the school."

"Oh ok, I was just calling to remind you to go to the school today. I guess I didn't really need to."

"Yeah I had a late lunch at the Mystic Grill, then went to the school."

"I'll have to take you out for lunch sometime when I'm not busy."

"That sounds like fun."

"Ok well I have a meeting to get to so I have to go but I will call you and make plans about lunch. Bye."

"Bye Dad."

_**Thank you Lena for the review. I'd love for at least 5 new reviews before I post the next chapter. It takes a little while before Jeremy comes into the fic so just be patient.**_


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